Stretching and securing means for flexible material



Jan. 24, 19331 A. BOOMERSHINE STRETCHING AND SECURING MEANS FOR FLEXIBLE MATERIAL Filed Oct. 12, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 1 933. A, BQOMERSHINE 1,895,309

STRETCHING AND SECURING MEANS FOR FLEXIBLE MATERIAL Filed Obi. 12, 1931 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Y 3 INVENTOR g ATTO R-EY$ Patented Jan. 24, 1933 I UNITED STATES PATENT oFFic ADAM BOOMERISIV-IINE, or DAYTON, 0310 srnn'renme AND sneuame MEANS FOR FLEXIBLE ATERIA a Application filed. October 12,1931. Seria1 No. 5 6'8,4 93. f

.This invention relates to means for stretching flexible material,1such as fibrous cloth,

wire cloth or thelike, over ai frame and securingthe sameinpositiori on the frame in a 5 taut condition. y 1 1 Q 1 The object of this invention is toprovide meansoflthe character referred to which will be simple in-constructi on and effective inoperation. I i j 10 j A further and more specific object of this invention is to provide stretching and securing means of the characterreferred to, in such a nature that such means will act initially to engage the marginal portion of the flexible-material and thereafter hold such marginal portion of the material during the stretching 1 operation.

A further object of ble material over a frame of such a character that a-more uniform tension may be applied to the materialthan with stretching devices heretofore employed and any spots of unstretched material may be readily re- 5 movedwithout thenecessity of releasing or increasing the tension upon the material as a whole. 7

In'the accompanying drawings: 1 Fig. 1 is a perspective View partly broken away and shown in section of a frame and the stretching and securing device associated therewith, showinga piece of;fiexible material stretched over the frame and secured 5 thereto. 1 e I 1 I Fig. 2-is an enlargedsectlon through one of the side members. of the frame showing a portion of apiece o-ffabric which has been;

modified form of the invention. 1

my invention is to provide stretching devices for stretching 1fiex1- and secure the same in taut condition there-1 vice in; fullyfoperated position, this being a 1 section on the line 5 -5 of; F igijl. I 1 v Fig. 6-is a perspective View of a modif ed form of frame and stretchingand securing devices. f Fig. 7 is a section on theline7'7 of Fig. 6; Fig.1 8 is a section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 7.

" Fig. 9 is a section onthe line99 of Fig. 7. a i

Fig. '10 is a section through one ofthe. frame members of another modified form of frame and also through one of the stretching and securing devices, showing a piece of fabric stretched thereoverand secured thereto.

Fig. "11 is a detailed sectional view of a Referring first to Figs. 1 .to 5'i1iclusive, there is shown a square fiat frame, the side members of which are each represented by 1'. This frame may be constructed. from any v suitable'1material but in the presentcase is 7 shown as a metal one. 1 Each side frame memberhas a depressed laterally projecting por- 1 tion 2 the depression being preferably in the form of a shallow channel3. 'Each channel v 3 is provided with a groove 4 which'extends the full length thereof, this groove being formed in the present case by placing 'in the channel a metallic plate 5. which is less than the width of the channeland so positioned astohave the groove 4 occur at the outer side of the channel. With' a'frame of this form and dimensions four stretching and securing devices are employed,,each of'these stretching and securing devices consists of a flexible metallic strip 6 having the outer. edge thereof bentat an angle as indicated at 6. Each strip is also provided with a series of transversely elongated openings? to loosely receive screws 8 which are adapted to be loosely extended through the plate 5 and threaded in screw-threaded openin'gs9 in the frame part2.

In operation when it is desired tostretch a piece of flexible material over this frame to, a piece of material of suitable dimensions, indicated at '10, is first laidover the framed. asindicated in Fig. 2. The metallic strips 6 and their screws are then placed in position as indicated in Fig.3, in which position it will be noted' that the free edge ofthe bent portion 6 of each strip is pressing the mari5 terial and gradually tightly stretch the strips during the ginal edge of the material. into the groove 4:, thus bringing the material in fairly taut condition over the frame. The screws of all the .strips are then gradually tightened one by one which causes the metallic strips to be tilted toward; the bottoms of the channels 3, the outer edges 6 of thebent portions of the strips firmly holding the marginal edges of the material by pressingthematerial into the grooves 4 while theinner edges of the strips engage. the inclined portion of the ma- I the material over'the top of the frame 1. 7

In Fig- ,4 the material isshown in par- V tially stretched condition, which may be suf ficient in connection [with some materials,

'while Fig. .5 the 'm'aterial' is shown in fully s'tretched'condition. By reason of the elongation of the openings the necessary relative'fnovement between thestrips 6 and the screws '8 is permitted, thewidth. of these openingsbeing. .less than the diameter of the heads ofthe screws so as to. 'insure a contact between the heads of the screws and stretchinghand clamping. operation.

In Figs. 6 to 9rinclusive there is showna modification in which the frame, indicated at 11, is of semi-circular formation, .the'frame in this "case being .a metal one. This frame 11 *haschan nels 12 about its marginal edges and grooves 13 formed by the plates 15. Two

opposite'sides of this frame have flexible securingstrips16' which extend for the full length ofithe frame but the stretching and securing devices at the, other sides of the frame are formed of a' plurality of short plates 17 in, order to allow such devices to conform to the curvature'of the channels at those sides of the frame. The long strips 16 V have the. same bent portions 18 as the portions 6' of the strips,6 with the exception that "they are bent more nearly at a right-l angle to the strips, and each of the :short, strips 17 have-similar bentportions,19,-for

the purpose of engaging and pressing the fabric into thegroovesx Each of thestrips 16 and 17 are providedwithelongated openings to receive the screws 20 and-the manner of stretching and securing the materialin" this frameiis the same as that previously'describedin connection with the square frame; In'Fig. 10 there is shown a modification in which the frame 21 is formed of pressed steel,the parts of which are 'weldedtogether. Eachjside frame member in thiscase .has a channel 22, plates2et to form the grooves 23, flexible stretching and securing strips 25, and

' 7 screws 26. I Inthis case after the material has been stretched and secured,.cover-plates 27 are preferablyinserted and. suitably. se-

cured in position in order to 7 I conceal the stretching and securing deVf1CeS.:

- material.

In Fig. 11 there is shown another modification of the invention in which 28 represents the raised portions of the frame and 29 is the V depressed portion. a In this case the marginal,

edge of the material to be stretched is secured to the depressed portion by tacks 30, or other suitable securing devices of that character.

Oneiof .the flexible strips for applying the; desired tension to the material is indicated at 31, this strip having a bent outer'edge which rests, upon the depressed portion of=- the frame outside of the marginal edge of the The strip has a series of slotted openings, one of which is indicated at 33, to

.- receive screws one of which is shown at 34,

After the material has been stretched; to a fairly'taut condition and secured by the tacks 3,0, the'strip 31 is depressedby turning the screws into the frame to cause it to engage the inclined portionofthe'material and prop erly tension the same.

One of, the purposesof this invention to stretch cloth such as bolting over afr'amej which is used for process painting, the cloth; in this case being silk or metal cloth of fine K c;

mesh. It is obvious, however, that this'in? vention is equally applicable to other purJ- poses such as the stretching and securing of metal cloth in ithe frames of screen doors or windows, the purpose of the invention being to stretch and secure in a taut condition any kind of' flexible material including fibrous cloth of all sorts, wire .cloth and the like.

By this invention it will be seen that in the operation of stretching the material over the frame, the stretching and securing devices will first engage the marginal edges of the material and firmly holdthe edges ofthe material while the operation of stretching the material over the frame is being performed.

These devices are extremely sim le in construction and very effective for t e purpose of uniformly stretching material in allfour directionsover the frame so that distortion of the material is obviated.

,fOne of the advantages of the invention resides in'the' employment of, flexible stretching stripswith a plurality of meansfor drawing the strip toward the depressed portions of the frame, this arrangement enabling the operator to'remove any'spots of unsti'etched 'material which may exist withoutdisturbing the stretching device as a whole, by simply tightening those screws which are in line'with the unstretched spot both laterally and longi-v V tudinally of the frame, the flexible'character nipulation. In other, words,

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. In a device for stretching and securing flexible material in taut condition, a frame having a marginal depressed portion, and a plurality of stretching and clamping strips, the outer edges of each strip being formed to initially engage the marginal portion of the material and clamp the same to the depressed portion of the frame, the inner edge of each strip being formed to engage the material at a point intermediate the outer edge of the strip and the surface of the frame over which the material is placed, and meansto draw the strips gradually towards the depressed portion of the frame and hold the same in that position.

2. Ina device for stretching and securing flexible material in taut condition, a frame having a marginal depressed portion, and a plurality of stretching and clamping strips, the outer edge of each of which is angularly bent to engage the marginal portion of the material and clamp the same to the depressed portion of the frame, the inner edge of said strip adapted to engage the material at a point intermediate the outer edge of the strip and the surface of the frame over which the material is placed and means to draw the strip gradually towards the depressed portion of the frame and hold the same in that position.

3. In a device for stretching and securing flexible material, a frame having depressed marginal channels, and strips in said chan nels together with means for gradually drawing the strips towards the bottom of the channels, the out-er edge of each strip being formed to initially engage the marginal edge of thematerial in the channel and the inner edge of the strip adapted to engage the material at a point intermediate the outer edge of the channel and the surface of the frame over which the material is placed.

4. In a device for stretching and securing flexible material, a frame having a marginal depressed channel, said channel having a groove extending along the outer side thereof, and a stretching and clamping strip, together with means for drawing the same towards the bottom of the channel, the outer edge of said strip being bent and adapted to initially engage the material and press the same in said groove, the inner edge of said strip being adapted to engage the material between the groove and the surface of the frame over which the material is placed.

5. In a device for stretching and securing flexible material, a frame having a marginal depressed channel, said channel having a groove extending along the outer side thereof, and a stretching and clamping strip, to-' gether with means for drawing the same to- Wards the bottom of the channel, the outer edge of said strip being bent and adapted to,

initially engage the materialand press the same in. said groove, the inner edge of said strip being adapted" to engage the material between the groove and the surface ofthe frameover which the material 1s placed,sa1d

means for drawing the strip toward the bottom of the channel consisting "ofa plurality of screws extendeduthrough slotted openings in saidstrip and engaged with threaded open ings inthe bottom of said channel:

6. In a device forstretehing and securing flexible material, a semiscircular frame havingflat depressed portions'at two opposite sides and circular. depressedportions at the other two:opposite sides, andstretching and clamping members together'with means for.

securing same to said-depressed portions,

each of said clamping members having a part arranged to engage the marginaledgeof the 1 material to clamp the same to the depressed portion and another part to engage the material between said clamping part and the surface of the frame over which the material is placed, together with means to draw the members toward the depressedporti on of the frame, the clamping members for the circular depressed portions consisting of a plurality of separate parts of short length.

f portions, each strip having an outer edge to initially engage the marginal edge of the material to clamp the same, the other edge of each strip arranged to engage the material between the outer edge thereof and the SUIIZl-CG of the frame over which the materialv is placed, the strips in the clrcular depressed channels being of comparatively short length.

8. In a device'for stretching and securing. flexible material in taut conditlon, an open' frame having. marginal depressed portions over which the fabric is placed with the marginal portions of the fabric overlying the depressed portions of the frame, a series of flexible stretching strips disposed over the fabric on the depressed portionsof the frame, and a series of securing devices placed at intervals on each depressed portion of the 1 frame to independently engage different por ti ons of the flexible stretching strips to cause the same to stretch. the fabric over the raised portion of the frame, each securing device being independently operable whereby different portions of each flexible strip may be independently tightened or relieved.

9. In a device for stretching and securing flexible material in taut condition, anopen frame having marginal depressed portions over which the fabric is placed with the marginal portions of the fabric overlying the de-- 13D on v v strips wherebytheir heads independently en- I 'gage different portions of a'flexible stripv to pressed portions of the frame, and 'a series of screws threaded into the depressed por-' tions ofthe frame and disposed at intervals onsuch depressed porti0ns,'said screws extending through apertures in the stretching cause the same to tighten-the fabric overthe raised ortion of the'frame, said screws being in ependently operable w ereby diflerent portions of each,flexib1 e strip may be independently tightened or relieved.

In testimony whereof, Irhave hereunto set I my hand'this 6th day of October, 1931. 15

ADAM BOOMERSHINE.- 

